Hi everyone! Here’s the latest and greatest event I attended: Eight at Eight.

What is Eight at Eight?:  This is a dinner club for singles.  Here’s how it goes: 4 girls and 4 guys go to dinner together and see what happens. 

Here’s what’s bad: It is not cheap! It is, in fact, the opposite of cheap.  I joined back in November and I have signed up every time there was a scheduled meal.  The meals are few and far between.  I have signed up for all four that were offered.  I have only attended two- and this is because I was not “picked” for the other two, and was not informed of this until the day before the meal.  It’s pretty annoying to look forward to a big, exciting dinner date for a month just to have it get cancelled the day before- too late to make plans with other friends.  It’s also bad if you are a girl.  Because we ladies are more inclined to sign up for these things, it’s harder to get a spot at a dinner.  We also only get five meals to use while the guys get seven (I think) for the same price.  

Here’s what’s good:  If you’re a guy you are a HOT commodity! In fact, even after some of the men used up all their meals, they often get invited to “fill in” so they can provide at least four men for the line of anxious women waiting to meet their four bachelors for dinner! So if you’re a dude- join this.  The reason I wasn’t “picked” for those two meals is because they guarantee you will never dine more than once with a person of the opposite sex, and I would much rather not get go to a meal than keep having dinner with the same dudes I didn’t like the first or second time around,  I don’t know how they do it, but they take great pains to make sure that you are at a table with “potantially suitable matches” for all five of your dinners.  And of the two times I went, I had a tasty dinner and a fabulous time.

Here’s how Friday night went down: I showed up at Orso’s in Old Town (see below for a scene-setting photo) at 7:45.  Dinner was at 8 (hence the name ”Eight at Eight”), but if you get there on time you are rewarded with a free cocktail.  Sweet.  An Eight at Eight hostess introduces everyone and gets you all comfortable and ready for a night of fun.  There are place cards on the table and you are seated boy-girl.  We were all around the same age, the women were all lovely, and the men were….ok.  What is most fascinating to me (and this happened at my first event as well) is how everyone seems to always be talking to someone, there is no competition for attention-the conversation flow is very organic, and it seemed that each person was content to get to know their neighbor rather than shouting across the table at someone else’s neighbor.  And sometimes (again, very naturally) the whole group talks to each other as well.  Group dynamics are so interesting and I have yet to have a meal where some obnoxious jerk dominates the entire evening !  Hmmm,  I guess that could mean I’m that obnoxious jerk then…. Anyway,  I liked the girls very much, especially the teacher I dined with.  As for the boys, I didn’t get to talk to two of them at all as they were more introverted as well as on the other side of the table.  But that was ok.  As luck would have it, I was seated in between the two I preferred anyhow.  Greek guy on my left talked to me about his family and his culture.  Stimulating.  Wisconsin guy on my right discussed  the merits of the Green Bay Packers Cheese Wedge hat and fried food.  Amusing.  And I talked about myself.  Fascinting (haha).  But they must have thought so because they BOTH asked me for my number.  That’s right, readers! Don’t hate! Two boys asked for my number in one night! Success! Those other bitches didn’t stand a chance! (I’m just kidding, those other nice young women didn’t stand a chance).  Oh, the food was good.  I think there are better Italian restaurants in Chicago to be honest, but it was good.  Besides, I was there for the event, the food was just a side note.  And perhaps I’m not being fair to Orso’s, I was too busy being charming to really notice the food!

Reality/Ego check: So it’s Sunday.  Neither boy has called me.  I think this might happen a lot though.  Often times it seems hard to transition from “Hey, nice to meet you- can I get your number” to “let’s actually make some time to hang out with each other, person that is almost a complete stranger”.  I don’t know, it seems like that excitement over a person you just met is hard to sustain.  At least for me it is, which is likely why I’m single!  But why would you join a “club” where your goal is to meet new people, and then not follow up with someone that you were interested in enough to get a phone number from?  However, I am not sad.  It’s a win-win situation as far as I’m concerned.  I liked both the boys enough to go out with them if they asked, but I didn’t like either enough to be bummed out if they don’t call.  Regardless, I can’t remember the last time two boys asked for my number in one night! Perhaps that is because it never happened before….Either way it’s an ego boost and more play than I would have gotten if I had been sitting home.  

Eight at Eight gets: 3.75 stars (out of five)  I need to remember to  start ranking these events.

So if you’re interested: http://eightateight.com.  If you’re a little intimidated by the price, or you want something  more “friendly” and  less ”datey” I will be reviewing Grub With Us next week!   

Hello everyone! I hope none of you were waiting all week to find out how speed-dating went! (Actually, I hope someone was- that would be awesome to think a person was just waiting around to hear about my week!)  Well, if anyone WAS waiting, you will be sorely disappointed! I am starting to think that publically broadcasting my plans must somehow jinx them.  Speed dating was cancelled due to a lack of participation.  This was the second one that was cancelled in two months!  Don’t worry, I keep accumulating free passes, so I will be giving it another shot in the future. So stay tuned….But don’t be sad followers- I embarked on something that was equally ridiculous and hilarious on Saturday, and today I saw the silver lining behind the cloud when I tried a brand new adventure!  So this evenings blog will start with a bummer story and end on a hopeful one!

So, after trying to find something to do last minute in order to have something to write about, I defaulted to www.meetup.com.  I didn’t want to blog about the same source two weeks in a row, but the experience was SO bad that I thought you all might like to hear yet another “true” story about what it’s REALLY like out there.  It’s not pretty folks!

Not heeding my own advice, I signed up for “Chinese New Year Musical Chairs Dinner!” with the Chicago Fun Single group.  Remember followers when I told you to stay away from any meetup’s with the word single in it?  Well, I remember now why I said it- but the idea was too novel to resist- a 3 course dinner with 50 singles, in Chinatown, for Chinese New Year, and you change seats with every course in order to meet everyone.  I got all dressed up and walked into the restaurant, excited for what promised to be a wonderful evening.  My hopes were quickly dashed when I looked around at the other 49 people.  Every guy in that room was fat, bald, older than my dad, and clothed in bi-focals, a hairpiece, and a Cosby sweater!!!!!!  Now I’m not THAT superficial, those men need romance too, and I was keeping an open mind until it became clear that not only was I dining with my grandparents, but they were the most socially inept, uninteresting, and poorly mannered men in the world!!!!  To be fair there were 3 attractive men my age, but two of them were clearly together (as in “together”) and I never got assigned a seat with the only viable option. 

Not wanting my Saturday night to be completely ruined, I turned to the ladies.  I have never been disappointed in the company of the women- until now.  They too were old and uninteresting, and some were really terribly obnoxious! Towards the end of the evening (three excruciating hours later), I finally met some cool girls.  They too, were completely and utterly traumatized by the lack of potential suitors.  We agreed that this truly was, scraping the bottom of the barrel.  And worst of all- what on earth were WE doing in the barrel too?!?! Uh oh….But Guinea Pig, at least it was a good dinner, right? NO! Bad food and bad service on top of bad company! I rushed out of there as soon as I could, went home, dug out the emergency B&J (Ben and Jerry’s, fools) hiding in the freezer in case of emergencies, and proceeded to watch some cheesy romantic comedy with Matthew Macconaughey, alternating between being angry at Hollywood’s lies and sad that I wasn’t living the Hollywood lie cuz it sure looked nice!

Never fear- I still had one card up my sleeve.  I’m about to play the ace.  So there’s this thing I’ve always wanted to do but never had the money todo it.  Plus I always saw it as a LAST RESORT for the truly desperate.  And that thing is…. a Matchmaker! Yes, an actual person that you pay, to find a match for you.  I found one that was actually crazy affordable.  I made an appoinment with her for today. I went in feeling cynical and bummed out and hopeless after Saturday’s dinner.  I thought “Haha! Won’t this be hilarious for the blog! Another exercise in ridiculousness.  I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

But surprise, the minute I sat down with this woman I was filled with excitement and hope! I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with a more optimistic view on love and relationships.  She was the real deal- a woman in a wonderful relationship herself with a sincere desire to see other people happy too.  She was the definition of a hopeless romantic.  She said she’s not a “business”, she really cares about finding people love.  Normally I might roll my eyes and supress the urge to vomit- but not with her.  Her passion and hopefulness and excitement were contagious and sincere! I liked her instantly!  She asked me good, relevant questions about me and what I wanted for about an hour.  I found the whole process very interesting. 

I’m not going to talk much more about this as I don’t want my blog to turn into a novel, and because she is a work in progress and you will be hearing all about my experiences with her over the course of the year, but I WILL give you some basics if you’re interested in checking her out.  Her website is www.findingtheone4u.com  She is very quick with responding.  She has a deal going on til the end of Feb- $75 for at least 3 dates or your money back!!! So cheap! And if you miss the special, regular price is $150.  Also not bad.  The reason it’s only(at least) 3 dates is because she takes this seriously- only setting you up with someone she thinks you may be compatible with.  I left feeling more hopeful and excited than I had in ages! So stay tuned for more stories about my matchmaking experiment!

I’d tell you what I have lined up for next week but I don’t want to have to say it’s been cancelled again! So we’ll just see what happens.  And a final note- if anyone was interested in going to a Mingler (see either www.macncheeseproductions.com or my blog “what’s a mingler) Hostess is having one on Feb. 18th! I encourage you all to go to that one because a.) they’re the best thing going and b.) I will be out of town for that one, much to my dismay, but that way my friends could go without competing with me for a spot at the “no one knows anyone” party!

Hello blog friends! A warning: This blog is a little longer than usual but I had lots to say! So good news and bad news, first the bad news….

Bad News:

The good, kind readers that I have will recall that this week I was going to report on either the How About We dating website, or a  Grub With Us dinner.  These things that were scheduled to occur, sadly did not happen.  They were both cancelled.  Not wanting to start my new blog off with a downer so early on, I found some other “meet-new-people” social event to write about instead.  I mentioned this to my “girlfriend-that-got-married-had-a-baby-and-STILL-manages-to-fulfill-her-girlfriend-duties” and she reminded me that my intent was to write a blog about what it’s REALLY like out there instead of glamorizing it a la Sex in the City.  And she’s right.                                                                   

Here’s the honest bummer of it: My dinner with Grub was cancelled  due to a lack of interest.  I will say in Grub’s defense I have done 14 dinners with them in the past year.  I’ve only had one get cancelled- so this was a fluke.  I will definately be revisiting this social outlet and blogging about it in the future.                  

How About We is a dating site I signed up for a month ago.  I had three guys write me this week saying they were interested! I was CERTAIN one of them would work out! I wrote them all back to set up the date….never heard from any of them again.  Ladies! (or single guys out there) Are you having this problem??!?! I have had more than one friend (guys AND girls) express frustration about the lack of follow through on dating websites.  What’s up?!? It’s only been a month though.  I’m going to give it a little longer before I “officially” blog about it.

Good News:

I DID find something else to do with myself and it’s a two-in-one! If you know me, or if you don’t, you probably have heard of www.meetup.com.  I heard about it from a friend a few years ago and have been hooked on it ever since.  If you don’t know, meet-up is a free website.  You sign up, you DO get bombarded with email which is annoying, but at your fingertips you have access to 100′s of different groups you can join.  And there is a group for EVERYTHING! I mean it- social groups, new in town, new friends, singles groups, religious,  political, special interest….I even found a group for people who love bunnies! (I love bunnies and wanted to join but there were only like 3 of us weirdos so I opted out). 

Friday night I went out with the  Feast and Friends Club.  We had a very nice dinner at Nuevo Leon in Pilsen.  There were eight of us.  Three guys, five girls, all very nice, in their 20′s-30′s.  No my dear readers, no romantic connections, but a nice group to hang out with nonetheless.  After dinner we went on  Pilsen’s Second Friday’s Art Walk. It’s once a month.  VERY cool.  Check it out here if you’re interested: http://chicagoartsdistrict.org/events_main.asp. I even took some pictures so you could see what I mean! (Yes, they were taken with my phone so they suck, and no, I don’t know how to flip the second one around.

                             

But as you can see there were these wacky mannequins in one gallery, and another showed photographs of boxers and had REAL boxers boxing in the gallery! Crazy, huh?!?  The galleries were packed with cool, beautiful, trendy people, wine, and tasty snacks! It’s a fun, unique thing to go to.  I think we hit about ten galleries.  And it was all free (except the wine of course)!  It is a good place to meet people.

Back to meet-up….I won’t bore you with ALL of the 27 groups I joined, I’ll give you a few highlights.  (Yes, I am a meet-up whore, hopping from group to group, looking for whoever has the best event)  You might find you want to join one of these.  And if not-  I promise you there are many other that will suit you!

Sub Culture Clan- My favorite.  I haven’t been there lately, but they go to burlesque shows, I’ve seen fire eaters, and even went on a sex tour with my best girl.  That group is a trip.  Interesting unique events!

Chicago Girlfriends- Every night is girls night out! I went camping with them and to Thunder from down under.  Good times, great for meeting new girlfriends.

Chicago Dive Bars- Fun, low key, cheap, and an easy group of people.  It was THE meet-up to meet the boys (until all the ladies figured that out….) But it’s still a good group.

Board Game Groups- Not always the “coolest” people, but the nicest! And I like these meet-ups because they are easy too.  No pressure socializing because everyone is busy playing games.  It’s pretty fun.

Things I try to avoid: Singles groups- these are almost always all girls! It’s fun but people are too busy competing for attention to make it a good time. I kind of feel these meet-ups reek of desperation. Suburban meet-ups- No offense to the suburbanites, but these group tends to always be quite a bit of an older crowd.

Finally, meet-up is great and wonderful.  But because it is free sometimes you do get some, ummm, interesting people.  Not always the good interesting.  But there are enough good people to make up for the freak shows.  And be warned- when a meet-up says 43 people are going, it could be more like 20.  People often sign up and don’t show.  That, and the email bombarding are my chief complaints.  But other than that…DO IT!

Stay tuned next week, I am scheduled to SPEED DATE.  I will let you know all about the ridiculouness and hilarity of that!

So technically this might be cheating since I went to a mingler a few weeks ago rather than this week. But I feel like because I promised I would talk about Minglers in my first blog, and because they are what started me on this journey, and they are what I believe socializing in Chicago is all about, I wanted to kick of the year talking about it.

What is a Mingler?  A Mingler is a fantastic party, held in a loft on the north side, by a phenomenal hostess.  (I’m new to blogging, and I’m not sure if I should be posting names on here?  Perhaps my social-bloggy mentor  will see this and let me know if I should mention her name or not?) Here is the catch: NO ONE KNOWS ANYONE!!!! Everyone is a complete stranger, so there are no cliques, inner circles, or shy awkwardness!

How do you find out about these fantastic parties?  You go to the Mac ‘n’ Cheese Productions website and sign up!  http://macncheeseproductions.com   And it’s free! She doesn’t bombard you with emails and offers, she just occasionally sends newsletters of cool events that are coming up.  I’m about to get ahead of myself, let me talk about these Minglers before I start in on all the other fun stuff she has.  So when you see the date of a Mingler, you just e-mail your request to attend.  Now, she does ask who told you about Minglers in order to keep the event pure, and insure that you do not attend the party with someone you know.  And she really does check who knows who- I almost didn’t get to go to a party because a girl I told about it was going.  (Thankfully she cancelled, so I got to attend after all).  I don’t know how Hostess does it, but she manages to prevent any friends from going to the same party about 95% of the time! 

What happens at a Mingler?  So when you get clearance to attend, you pay $15 to Paypal- which goes to Hostess- and thenyou are assigned a snack or beverage to bring.  On the evening of the party, you start the night off with a fantastic icebreaker game.  It’s an easy way to start getting to know each other.  You spend the rest of the evening drinking, snacking, getting to know each other, and playing some really creative, hilarious games.

Who goes to Minglers?  In addition to making sure no one knows each other, Hostess tries to keep it an even number of guys and girls (about twenty total at each party).  She does a pretty good job, but inevitably, we ladies tend to go to these types of things more than the men. In truth, the average participant is a  single, woman, late 20′s-early 30′s, well-educated, straight, liberal and of course, attractive.  HOWEVER, there are men, I have seen ALL races and ethnicities, gay, older, younger, conservative and a very good and ecclectic mix of people.  But best of all, the kind of people who go to a Mingler are genuinely fun, interesting, outgoing, and looking to meet now people.

How would I rate the Mingler? I would give it five stars ouf of five! To me, this is the essence of all things I desire in a social event.  While I haven’t gotten a date from it myself, I have met a very cool guy at each Mingler I’ve gone to- I just didn’t manage to close the deal.  But they were there!  And I know others have met there and dated.   I HAVE however, gotten girlfriend dates out of this! This is really an ideal situation for meeting new friends.  I have met some very cool chicks here.  But it doesn’t stop there….Hostess allows time for each person to promote their business, volunteer organization, cause, social group, or anything else they want to promote.  So it is the ideal place to network as well.  This is why I am telling all of you GO TO A MINGLER!!! The only negative comment is that I wish they were more often!

One more thing…. if you think this sounds good, you should check out Fear Experiment.  This is also part of Mac’n'Cheese Productions.  Strangers who have never danced, or done improv join, well, the Fear Experiment dance or improv group.  After weeks of intense training, they perform at Lincoln Park West.  I have not done this- only because full-time work and school do not allow a girl much time for fun- but it sounds amazing, and I hear it is hilarious! She also has several other fun events that you can read about in the newletter, or hear about at a Mingler, or check out on my blog when I go to another one of her events!

Stay tuned….next week I will tell you about Grub With Us or How About We.  I’m not sure which yet.  I guess we’ll all be interested to find out!